Senate Bill No. 497
(By Senators Minard, Jenkins Unger, Chafin and Williams)
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[Introduced February 5, 2010; referred to the Committee on
Economic Development; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §5B-2H-1, §5B-2H-2,
§5B-2H-3, §5B-2H-4, §5B-2H-5 and §5B-2H-6, all relating to
creating the West Virginia Small Business Assistance Program
Act to promote improvement of competitiveness of the state's
small business community and to encourage entrepreneurial
development; short title; declaration of policy; statement of
purposes; definition; promulgation of rules; and proposal of
legislation.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended,
by adding thereto a new article, designated §5B-2H-1, §5B-2H-2,
§5B-2H-3, §5B-2H-4, §5B-2H-5 and §5B-2H-6, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5B. WEST VIRGINIA SMALL BUSINESS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM ACT.
§5B-2H-1. Short title.
The article may be cited as the "West Virginia Small Business
Assistance Program Act."
§5B-2H-2. Declaration of policy.
The Legislature finds and declares that the West Virginia
economy can be strengthened by promoting private investment and
entrepreneurial development in West Virginia small businesses and
improving competitiveness of the state's small business community.
§5B-2H-3. Purposes.
(a) The purpose of this article is to promote improvement of
competitiveness of the state's small business community and to
encourage entrepreneurial development.
(b) This article is aimed at:
(1) Increasing the availability of development capital in
order to encourage and assist in the creation, development and
expansion of small businesses based in West Virginia;
(2) Developing, preserving, diversifying, expanding and
strengthening the agricultural, industrial and business base of
West Virginia's economy, particularly for those small businesses
utilizing this state's technical, managerial and research resources
in domestic and international markets; and
(3) Providing the residents of West Virginia with greater
opportunities to invest and participate in the economic development
and potential of small businesses in this state.
(c) The Legislature further finds that in order to accomplish
the purpose and intention of this article it is necessary specifically to:
(1) Provide for an exemption from personal property tax
assessment for the first three years on all "business related"
equipment purchased by small businesses;
(2) Recognize personal income tax deductions and exemptions
for small businesses recognized by the federal government;
(3) Provide a tax credit of $1,000 a year for each new
employee, with training skills tax credit to be applied for
employees who are entering the work force for the first time up to
and including three years of continuous service. This will
encourage investment in West Virginia small businesses and improve
the competitiveness of small businesses in this state and will tend
to reduce unemployment by creating new or maintaining existing
employment opportunities for the citizens of this state;
(4) Provide extra deductions for expenses of small businesses,
including allowing the deductibility on state taxes of the federal
employment tax;
(5) Consolidate forms needed and issued by all state
departments and agencies for small business reporting and tax
reporting requirements and allow twenty days to respond before due
date;
(6) Use the same identification numbers for each business in
all departments or agencies of the state when a business is
chartered or registered;
(7) Provide liaison sources of active and retired business mentors to assist start up of small businesses and businesses in
crisis; and
(8) Establish a procedure to obtain funding from existing
small business grants and West Virginia Economic Development
Programs for small businesses in the state.
§5B-2H-4. Definitions.
As used in this article, the following terms have the meanings
ascribed to them in this section, unless the context in which the
term is used clearly requires another meaning or a specific
different definition is provided:
(a) "Small business " means a business chartered, licensed or
otherwise authorized to engage in business activities in this
state, with no more than fifty employees.
(b) "State" means the State of West Virginia.
§5B-2H-5. Rules; Tax Commissioner; Secretary of Commerce; and
Joint Commission on Economic Development.
The Tax Commissioner, after conferring with the Secretary of
Commerce and the Joint Commission on Economic Development, shall
promulgate rules in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-
nine-a of this code to carry out the policy and purposes of this
article, to provide any necessary clarification of the provisions
of this article and to efficiently provide for the general
administration of this article. The commissioner may promulgate
additional rules in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-
nine-a of this code that the Commissioner, Secretary of Commerce and the Joint Commission on Economic Development consider necessary
to provide for the efficient administration of the policy and
purposes of this article relating to West Virginia small businesses
and improving competitiveness of the state's small business
community.
§5B-2H-6. When legislation to be proposed.
If, at any time, it is determined that the policy and purposes
of this article may not be properly implemented by promulgation of
rules, the Joint Commission on Economic Development may propose
additional legislation necessary to accomplish this policy and
purposes.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create
the "West Virginia
Small Business Assistance Program Act" to promote improvement of
competitiveness of the state's small business community and to
encourage entrepreneurial development.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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